The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) board of directors have approved two loans to the tune of $180 million to co-finance Rwanda’s Transmission System Reinforcement and Last Mile Connectivity (TSRLMC) Project. The project aims to improve rural electrification across the east African country while correspondingly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The multilateral development institution’s $180 million loan – comprising $140 million from the AfDB sovereign window and $40 million from the Africa Growing Together Fund – follows an $84.2 million loan secured from the concessional arm of the AfDB, the African Development Fund (ADF), also approved for the TSRLMC project.
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Comprising the construction of 1,000 km medium voltage lines and 3,300 km low voltage lines; a 137 km high voltage line; six substations to strengthen the grid; as well as the installation or upgrading of over 1,200 distribution transformers and associated infrastructure, the project is set to power 77,470 households, 75 schools, 65 administration centers, and eight health care centers while generating 125 MW from hydropower plants.
“The rationale for the bank’s intervention is to support the country’s pursuit of 100% access to electricity by 2024,” stated AfDB’s Country Manager in Rwanda, Aissa Tour-Sarr.
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Meanwhile, with access to electricity in southern Rwanda currently sitting below 34%, the grid access component of the project will mainly target cities in this part of the country, namely, Gisagara, Huye, Nyamagabe, Nyanza, Nyaruguru, and Ruhango.
